The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-08
STREET HUCKSTERS.
cURRSTONE MERCHANTS AND THEIR
WAYS OF A LIVING.


The Licensed Vendors Of New Yorkshire
Variety of Goods in Which They Deal.
A Quiet Man-The Noisy FeIlows-Few
American PeddIers.
IL il difficult to believe that all the noise
and confusion occasioned by the carts and
cries of the peddlers, hawkers, vendors, and
hucksters in the city is made by only 1871
men and boys. Such, however, is the fact
indicated by study of the books of the
mayors marshal. From the din which
the hawkers make in crying their wares
and the frequency with which their push
carts and trays met in the most
crowded thoroughfares, one would say at a
venture that there could not be less than
], 900, 900 of these peripatetic merchants. As
it is, however, probably not less than 20, 900
persons are dependent, directly or indirectly,
upon the chance sales of these curbstone
vendors, whose names are all in the mayors
nsarshal's books, and whose license fees
to them, tax infinitely greater in proper
ton To their volume of business than is that
which Mr.. Jay Gould is called upon to pay
Numerous among the street vendors
the fruit pedders. At every populous
street corner may be found basket or
stand heaped up and made attractive with
its display of fruits in season. IL is not
many years since the street sales of fruits
We're in the hands of the Irish women, whose
stands deep baskets with false bot
toms some two or three inches from the
top. This device gave the appearance of
a heaping basketful of apples to a shallow
veneer of the red checked fruit spread out
over the deceptive tray. A good many
pipe smoking old women may be still found
at certain street corners, where they have
been known for years, and where two
generations of workmen have bought cakes
and apples at noon time; but it is noticeabls
that the Italians are getting pretty COM
plete possession of the fruit business and
the Irish vendors are working at the
trades or going into politics.
ITALIANS AND PoLANDERs.
A great majority of the peddlers in the
streets are Italians, and for the rest there
are very few Americans in the business
From the records it appears that licenses
have been issued to Italians, Irishmen
Turks, Bohemians, Poles Greeks, French
men, Armenians, Germans, and some few
Americans. Not a single Chinaman or
Japanese is on the list. Foreigners seem to
succeed at this business and especially il
this true of the Italians and Polanders
because they maintain themselves
longer on small sales and small profits until
they have successfully established them
selves on paying basis. An Italian will
open a fruit stand at first, perhaps with
the earnings of his backing box, and will
tend it day and night, sleeping at his post
and sustaining himself upon the over ripe
fruit as it becomes unstable. In this way
nine mills out of every cent is profit, and
so he thrives- The Italians, too, have a
knack of displaying fruit temptingly. Per
haps another reason why the fruit stand
Inn IL LODI hy b.a To -
that the capitalists of that race are now
largely Interested in the importation of
tropical fruits.
The business of the street vender and
huckster has grown To be of so much CON
sequence of late years that depOts or stores
have been opened To supply hawkers with
wares other than fruits and candies On
certain days all the push carts about town
will be laden with knives; ON another Clay
with imitation Russian leather note books
and purses; again with glassware, or with
lead pencils, or last years diaries travel
ing caps, Autographs. song books, or sus-
penders. The penny ballad dealer Is a
relic of bygone days who remains as a re-
hinder of IA primitive time when there
were no patented novelties of a thousand
kinds to be had at, every curbstone, and
try than it is now.
crowded streets and beSet the public ear
with praises of the trinkets that they offer
dumb and lovable as compared with
the huckster who with berries watermel-
ons, apples, fresh fish or CLAIMS drives his
rafting old wagon through the up town
streets, believing and bowling in a way
that the most hardened nerves cannot
stand. He brings to the window by
the sheer force of his agonizing Shrek ani
like the wedding guests whom the Ancient
Mariner stopped, He cannot choose but
hear." IL is in the early morning when
this huckster goes through the streets car
rolling like a steam calliope, that outraged
citizens wish for fire arms and hand gren-
ades.
THE HOT WAFFLE MAN.
But there is in the town an interesting
vender whom no one hates. and who goes
quietly and decently about his business
without unnecessary talk or noise. That is